The Internet of Things: Connecting and Transforming

ISSUE #62 –In this interview, Roswell Wolff, President, Asia Pacific, Sigfox shares with us more about the company’s IoT project in Singapore and explains how the Internet of Things will change the ways we live, work and play.

Sigfox is joining forces with ENGIE and UnaBiz to connect Singapore to the global IoT network. Can you tell us more about this partnership, and share with us about the expertise of your company?

We are very excited about this partnership delivering Sigfox’s connectivity to Singapore, particularly supporting the Smart Nation Initiative. This programme includes infrastructure, ecosystems and capabilities to bring IoT benefits to all citizens. UnaBiz Network, our exclusive Operator in Singapore, will lead the nationwide rollout, expected to complete in H1 of 2017.

Singapore is our first network in Asia and home to our regional headquarters. We chose it for its strategic positioning as a leading regional hub and gateway to the region.

Unabiz will leverage our global ecosystem of component manufacturers, IT developers and integrators to establish Singapore as the ‘living lab’ of Asia; giving public access to channels, service providers, enterprises and government agencies.

ENGIE chose to invest because it will help its local businesses to improve energy efficiency, and deliver facility management and customer-centred digital solutions. Projects include remote monitoring of boilers, metering in heat distribution and smart lighting.

We see connected devices everywhere, and there are IoT solutions for everything.

Could you share with us some examples in which this IoT coverage is going to change the ways citizens live, work and play?

Estimates show that there will be 50+ billion connected devices by 2025. Whole industries are emerging to deliver products, software and services aimed at capturing and analysing huge volumes of data.

This is most visible in consumer markets, especially wearables and smart-home appliances. Less visible are the billions of dollars being spent on industrial applications to measure, identify, alert, track, inform, and maintain devices.

In healthcare, home monitoring devices are enabling real time services for healthcare providers and families. They ensure elderly or home care patients are monitored and receiving the care they require quickly & easily.

Security service providers are delivering secure, cost effective smoke, fire, and burglary detection, with real time alerts to emergency services. Insurance providers bundle these services into new customer offers.

Industrial applications monitor water leakage and gas or electricity consumption to enable governments and private companies to manage natural resources more efficiently and deliver better service to customers.

What do you regard as the most interesting use of Internet of Things?

Everyone will choose use cases driven by their own interests; we see connected devices everywhere – i.e. soil moisture measurements in farming, air quality in polluted cities, fire detection in palm plantations. There are many IoT solutions providing social welfare as well.

The Sigfox Foundation, an independent endowment fund started by our founders, Ludovic LeMoan and Christophe Fourtet, provides connectivity solutions to humanitarian causes worldwide. The Foundation aims to solve major issues for the environment, public health, and social matters, focusing on causes that can be partly solved through IoT connectivity.

Sigfox Foundation is testing a monitored, anti-poaching system, to connect small GPS trackers to endangered Rhinos. With fewer than 29,000 rhinos worldwide today, and 4 per day being killed in Africa, this tracking system is giving critical information to aid in preventing this species from extinction.

SIGFOX’s worldwide footprint is steadily growing. Could you share with us a little about your expansion plan?

Singapore is now one of 28 countries where our network is already present and registers more than 10 million objects. Our goal is to be deployed in over 60 countries by 2018, which will represent over 90% of world GDP.

With millions of objects connected to the network and a rapidly growing ecosystem of partners, Sigfox empowers companies to move their business models towards more digital services and where valuable data can be captured and used in the most cost efficient way.

We have a unique approach to device-to-cloud connectivity allowing companies to address the three greatest barriers to global IoT adoption: cost, energy consumption, and global scalability.

Instead of using existing cellular technologies, Sigfox has built a global network to listen to billions of devices broadcasting data. Like a radio telescope, Sigfox can pick-up very small signals sent by IoT devices. Sigfox complements existing technologies, addressing the needs of these simple devices.

Roswell Wolff is the President of Sigfox, Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. He and his team are leading the company’s efforts to develop the solution ecosystem, deploy the network and manage all sales channels.

Sigfox is the world’s leading provider of global, simple, cost–effective and energy–efficient connectivity and services for the Internet of Things (IoT) that any company can use to create new business models, accelerate digital transformations and generate new value. Launched in 2009, the company is headquartered in France and has offices in Boston, Dubai, Madrid, San Francisco, Singapore.

Interview with Roswell Wolff, President, Asia Pacific, Sigfox

Article published in the FOCUS Magazine “Driven by Data” – Issue #1 2017